- Stuart

Tales from the Mountain

       I was standing in Talkeetna, eating the reindeer sausage that I had just purchased. I was conversing with some of the other junior leaders when I heard a rather large brouhaha centered around two men who had been in line behind me. It was not long before I gathered from their discussion that these two unassuming men had just climbed Denali (aka Mt. McKinley).
            25 year old Davis Ravnaas has been climbing since he was a kid “Denali is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.” Davis is trying to climb the seven summits, which are the highest mountains on each of the continents. “This was my third, and it was an amazing experience” Said Ravnaas, making reference to the mountain.
            When I asked him what it was like being on the mountain he explained that “it was cold mostly, but hot at the same time, but full of absolute beauty.”
            The expedition of three guides and seven climbers made the summit in just 14 much shorter than the usual 21. “We had a very strong a very strong group, and every day we just pushed, and so we got up there pretty quickly.”
            On a typical climb, the climbers fly in from Talkeetna and set up a base camp at around 7,800 feet. The climbers then set up an additional three camp. They spend a minimum of three nights to acclimate the climbers to the altitude. Ravnaas stated, “Yet you don’t feel normal.” On the first two nights in camp three Ravnaas didn’t sleep “I was cold, and my head heart, just the worst head ache of my life.” He explained. But with the support and encouragement of his group he was able to go on.
            After three nights at the final camp came the most challenging part of the entire climb, summit day. “You go from 17,000 feet to just over 20,000 in six hours.” Ravnaas explained, “ your just dead, I’ve never been that tired in my entire life.” On their push to the summit the team had to go over a final hill named Pig Hill. Named so because there is so little oxygen that you are snorting the entire way over the hill, “It’s just on the border, any higher and you need oxygen [canisters]”
            Firs scaled 100 years ago by the sough dough party Denali continues to hold our fascination. We continue to our quest to defy the challenges of Mother Nature. It is our nature to push the boundaries of what we think is possible, to prove, more to our selves than to any one else, that we can do things that we think we cannot.